I constructed a questionnaire to research audience expectations of a drama film, in reference to typical codes and conventions of that respective genre.
The questionnaire is based on survey monkey via the following link.
The purpose of the questionnaire was to gain a 'viewers perspective' on the expectations of a drama film, and which conventions I should follow strictly in order to allow my audience to achieve a sense of gratification from my film. By researching the popularity rates and general opinion on the content within a drama piece, I was influenced in deciding on a plot brief most suitable to the typical expectation of the genre, whilst also counteracting some researched expectations, and using them to twist my conventions into something unexpected and creative. For example, my statistics as of the 31st of March show that a male protagonist is most expectant of taking the lead role. For that reason, I have chosen to break that convention, and cast a female antagonist as the lead instead.
Question two asked my audience what their favourite film was. While this may seem pointless in the long-term of the project, my intention was to gain a loose understanding of what people enjoy. Does blood-fuelled violence in Tarantino films like Django unchained and Kill Bill have a wider audience than the pastel fuelled fun and symmetrical taste of Wes Anderson? Which sense of style and substance is more preferable? My results, inevitably, concluded some 'questionable' results. Alas, the overall consensus was promising. Cinematic works such as Apocalypse Now, District 9, The Shining, Fight Club and Blade Runner were all raised as some of my research subjects favourite works, and this allowed me to research the cinematic styles of the films, studying just why they might make someone's top spot as a favourite film. By placing myself into the shoes of the general cinephile, I was able to notice recurring themes and concepts throughout the films, which of course created valuable inspiration in the development of my own piece, the main one being- plot twists.
The results of question three raised the issues regarding music to my attention as it was regarded to be the most important aspect in regards to atmosphere by a significant margin. I have recognised the importance of sound within film as a result of this and have plans to work on a specific piece respective to my film. I also feel that as lighting was considered least important, it would be interesting to explore how much experimentation of light levels can affect my film, and its atmosphere.
The purpose of the questionnaire was to gain a 'viewers perspective' on the expectations of a drama film, and which conventions I should follow strictly in order to allow my audience to achieve a sense of gratification from my film. By researching the popularity rates and general opinion on the content within a drama piece, I was influenced in deciding on a plot brief most suitable to the typical expectation of the genre, whilst also counteracting some researched expectations, and using them to twist my conventions into something unexpected and creative. For example, my statistics as of the 31st of March show that a male protagonist is most expectant of taking the lead role. For that reason, I have chosen to break that convention, and cast a female antagonist as the lead instead.
The results of question three raised the issues regarding music to my attention as it was regarded to be the most important aspect in regards to atmosphere by a significant margin. I have recognised the importance of sound within film as a result of this and have plans to work on a specific piece respective to my film. I also feel that as lighting was considered least important, it would be interesting to explore how much experimentation of light levels can affect my film, and its atmosphere.
'By researching the popularity rates and general opinion on the content within a drama piece, I was influenced in deciding on a plot brief most suitable to the typical expectation of the genre, whilst also counteracting some researched expectations, and using them to twist my conventions into something unexpected and creative.'- in other words you are looking to subvert some of the genre conventions identified by your audience, in order to challenge them. This sentence seems to typify your approach Kate and it's worrying me a little. As I've said on several occasions, it's better to have a simple idea and execute it superbly than to have a superb idea and execute it poorly.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand 'Alas, the overall consensus was promising.' Your attempts to establish recurring themes and concepts from a range of films identified as favourites, is incredibly ambitious. The question, 'What is your favourite film?' is simply to vague. 'Why is your favourite film your favourite film?' may have given you a fighting chance of drawing some kind of workable conclusion. Please feel free to prove me wrong either here or in your evaluation!
I think music and sound is absolutely vital. In my opinion, lighting, like editing, tends to be something that, when done well, goes unnoticed and simply adds to the overall feel of the film.